社団法人 日本グラフィックデザイナー協会 JAGDA

Message from the awardee

When I was just starting out, a mere 23 years old, I somehow managed to win a Mainichi Advertising Design Award, and at the awards ceremony at the Imperial Hotel I saw Yusaku Kamekura. In my excitement, I impudently rushed over and asked for his handshake, and he affably responded with a friendly smile. His hand was warm and soft. Being a vapid young squirt with nothing in particular to say to someone of Mr. Kamekura’s caliber, I was nonetheless thrilled by the notion that, with this glorious first contact, I had taken my momentous first step into the world of graphic design. But as I proceeded to gaze at the many award-winning works and their creators at this dazzling event, my excitement gradually withered with the realization that I hadn’t yet started anywhere. I remember quite well how, on the spot, I told myself I should go back to my office and get to work, and I plodded my way back from Ginza. That one handshake was my first, and last, contact with the luminary among luminaries in the realm of Japanese graphic design. It was a handshake that, in retrospect, seemed to be both welcoming and also gently repellent. I wonder what Mr. Kamekura thought of the cold hand of this shallow young bloke.
Winning this award in his name now, many years later, is an honor I surely don’t deserve. Yet at the same time, for some reason, welling up inside me I sense the same feelings as that day when, treading in despair back from Ginza, I focused on my future. Mr. Kamekura always sought to create something new, something that would relate to the world through design. The warmth I felt in his hand that day still lingers in mine. I am more determined than ever to strive for better and better work.
I wish to express my deep appreciation to everyone who was involved in the exhibition that provided the background to my winning of this award.